


Letter Day

by computato



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Letters, Love Letters, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 18:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2399066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/computato/pseuds/computato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every now and then in the Trainee Corps, someone would be lucky enough to get a letter. This was one of those days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Letter Day

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick one shot I wrote while I was bored. Pleasing my Bertholdt/Reiner shipper heart, haha.

Every now and then in the Trainee Corps, someone would be lucky enough to get a letter. Worried and hopeful family members would send letters to their children about how much they missed them and how things were so different without them; they were usually just sappy please-be-safe-we-miss-you-letters. This was one of those days.

Shadis had called all of the 104th trainees together outside of the barracks to pass out the letters they'd received earlier that morning. Usually there weren't all that many to give, one or maybe two, but today Shadis held three. He began to speak in his usual raspy shout, probably so sore from years of yelling at newcomers.

"Alright, you lot," he said at the trainees lined up in front of him. "Today we received some letters addressed to you little shits. Guess it's your lucky day." He lifted the letters up to his face to study the names written on the envelopes. "First one goes to Jean Kirschtein." He walked towards the trainee, who stiffened instinctively. Shadis handed the paper to Jean, ignoring the snickers of the other trainees.

"It's probably from his mom," Reiner joked, if a bit rudely.

"Ha! Neigh neigh, mumma's boy," Eren teased.

"Oh, you asshole!" Jean's face reddened as he turned to Eren, standing a bit away from him; the two trainees between them just stood there awkwardly. Eren just grinned cockily. "Don't you dare-"

Marco, standing on Jean's right side, reached out and grabbed his arm before he could attack Eren. "Jean, don't-"

"ENOUGH!" The teasing and snickers quickly stopped at Shadis' angry yell. "Behave yourselves. You can tease him later."

"Hey-"

"The second one goes to Bertholdt Fubar." Said trainee looked up in surprise. Shadis paused and looked at Bertl's letter again. "...it's covered in hearts. Disgusting." He shoved the paper into Bertl's sweaty hands. "Enjoy your love letter, Fubar."

Reiner, standing next to the boy, smiled approvingly at his embarrassed expression. "Heh, might not wanna read that one out loud, Berl." Bertholdt looked down at Reiner in shock, who just winked at him.

"..ugh." Shadis cleared his throat uncomfortably. He lifted up the last letter. "Last one's for Marco Bodt." He handed the letter to Marco, who took it enthusiastically. He smiled when he recognized the handwriting on the envelope.

"It's from my family! I wonder what they're up to."

"Well, if that's all, you're dismissed, cadets." Shadis turned and walked away, and the trainees walked off, some of them going to their barracks, the others rushing off to finish their duties.

\---

"What does it say, Jean?" Marco and Jean were sitting on the bottom bunk of their shared bed in the boys' barracks, Jean holding the opened letter.

"Just a bunch of sentimental crap. The usual."

"You don't have to act indifferent or anything just because it's from your mom, you know. If you're worried about-"

"No, it's not that."

"Oh.. then..?"

Jean sighed. "She sends stuff like this _all the time._ It's like she doesn't trust me on my own or something."

"She's probably just worried about you, you _are_ a soldier. It just means she cares."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. ..So anyway, what was yours?"

"Just a bunch of sentimental crap, the usual."

Jean laughed. Marco blushed.

\---

"Well, Bertl?" It was suppertime, and many of the curious 104th trainees had gathered around the table in the mess hall Bertholdt was seated at. Bertl was holding his letter in his hands, blushing. Reiner, sitting next to him, just looked on approvingly.

Armin got closer and peered over Bertl's shoulder to look at the paper. “Uh.. yeah, you don't wanna ask, guys.”

“Why not,” someone questioned.

“Ooh, it /is/ a dirty letter, isn't it?”

Bertholdt lowered his head to the table, clearly embarrassed. Reiner's smile widened.

“Ha, I was right! That's half a dinner, Connie.”

“Hey, no way! We don't know for _sure._ ”

“Then show us, Bertl!”

“Yeah, show us! I gotta win this bet!”

Bertholdt, not lifting his head, held one shaky arm out, flinging the letter onto the mess hall table. Eren snatched it up and skimmed through the contents; his face grew red as he continued to read. Finally he looked up from the paper.

“Oh. My. God.”

“What?”

“I.. uh..” At a loss for words, Eren handed the paper to Jean, who was standing next to him. Bertholdt groaned in embarassment. Jean silently passed the paper to Sasha, his expression blank.

Sasha quickly skimmed the paper. “..yeah, I win the bet, Connie.”

“Aw, come on!”

The paper was passed around the table to everyone else. One by one, the trainees walked away, blushing as they left without another word, leaving Bertholdt and Reiner alone.

“So, Bertl, how'd you like my present?”

Bertl lifted his head to look at Reiner, who was still smiling at the taller boy's embarrassment.

“..I.. i-it's great, Reiner.”

Reiner smiled and wrapped his arm around Bertl's shoulder. “I'm glad. Come on, we should go finish our chores.”

“I was wondering, though, how'd you find it?”

“I was just walking around and came across it laying on the ground. Thought, 'ya know, Bertl'd like this,' so I took it.”

“We should probably put it back before we get in trouble.”

“But you like it, right?”

“Yeah..”

“So keep it.”

Bertholdt gave a small smile. “Yeah.” The two boys stood up, going to leave the room and head back to the barracks. Bertl grabbed the letter and envelope off the table.

“Was the letter really necessary though?”

“It was.”

Bertl blushed even more, if it was even possible, and shoved the letter into his pants pocket. He reached into the heart-covered envelope and pulled out a small object no one else had seen; a thin silver ring on a black string. Bertholdt smiled and put the string around his neck, tucking the ring into his shirt.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

Reiner wrapped his hand around Bertl's waist as they walked out of the mess hall; he reached up and sneaked a small kiss on the boy's cheek before they left.

“Guess everyone knows now, thanks to your theatrics,” Bertholdt said.

“That was the point; make it official. I would have just given it to you if I didn't want them to know.”

Bertl gave a small smile and wrapped his shaky hand around Reiner's waist as they walked off.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Constructive criticism/comments welcome.


End file.
